Method of forming rail-bonds.



v E. M. BOURNONVILLE NIHOD 0F PURMING RAIL BONDSe APPLICATION FILED DBG. 30, i907.

PATENTED JULY 28, 1908.

entran erratas rarnnfrorrioa.

METHOD OF FORD/UNG RAIL-BONDS.

lSpecicstlrlon of Letters Patent.

Patented July 28, 1908.

Original application filed September 20, 1907. Serial No. 393.783.4 Divided and this application led December 30,

' F 1907. serial No. 4023.432.V

To ...il w/zom it mogytonccro: l

Be it known that I, EUGENE M. Botfnnon- ViLLn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jersey City, Hudson county, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Inln provemeutsin Methods of Forming Rail- Bonds, otwhich. the following,r is a full, c car,

and exact description.

My invention relates to a new method of electrically uniting or bonding rails and the like. Tl c object ol the invention is to provide a substantially hoinogenemis connection between the ends oi two separate rails or the like. without the use of bolts or rivets or other mechanical fastenings.

lleretolore rail bonds have been. aflixed by bolting, riveting Vor soldering. In every in stance crystallization very soon attacks such connection and in a short time renders it inefficient or totally ineffective. By n'iy method of bonding, the metals of the rails and bonds are unified by a new process and the connections made hfunogcnoous and permanent.

'lhis application is a division o1 rn y former applicatioi'i Serial No. 393,782

'l`o illustrate my invention l relier to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a plan View conventionally rcpresentiiu` thc ends of two separate rails with :my bond applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a side clevation thercoi'.

A--A represent the rail ends.

B represents a hond such as l propose to use in practicing' a preferred l'orin ol'v my invention. This bond B is ol the shape and length indicated between the dotted lines uit-7.1" and 1j-my. This part inay, ofcourse, be ol' any desired construction, but is preferably made up of a number of flat strips arranged sido by side, bent as indicated in Fig. i, to allow for expansion and contraction, and scoured ,at their ends. f

' My process of uniting the rail bond comprises, tirst, heating the rail7 iior example, by an oxyacetylone gas ilalne lo a point, say just inside of the inciting point. l then place the bond upon the rail and permit the ray ol thc. [laine to heat the end ll'icrcof. a point between the end of the bond `and the burner, and in a more intensely hot part of l the flame, fl'thcn introduce the end ol" a nictallic rod,v i'o'r example, ol the same material as the l. ond (f ndinarilyy coppsr), and subject it to the h uit oi the llame until some of the metal melts and drops on tov the end of thc. bond where itis to join tliv rail, which will be in the zone oi llame iinpingenient. ,l preferably then nioi'nentzrily remove the plied cools slig'luly. l then repeat the above operation, building out step by step the eX- tension indicated at B. By this process a homogeneous connection is ell'ccted between thc bond B and the rail A, thc metal where it drops, unifying instantly with the metal of the bond and the rail.

I avoid the danger ol" burning the metal because that part ol' the' flame which inipinges against the rail and bond is of a lower temperature than that projecting against the rod being melted. By removing the .llame momentarily, the melted portion is allowed to cool slightly and become unified with the two parts A and B. These steps may be repeated until a vsuliiciont extension B has been. built up. This method may be followed or the building up of the extension may be commenced atlho outer ond thereof. Were the hond B originally of the shape indicatcd in Figi and were an attempt made to fuse the metals 'togrotl'ien thc. application of heat to the outsidc would ncccssaiily bc of such intensity, or would hayc to be continued for such a time, in order to secure thc necessary heat at the under side, that the metal would become burned and thereby seriously impaired if not completely destroyed. By my n'ictliod.,lburning is avoided and a con struction is a'l'l'orded in which the bond is pernmnently united as though it were integral with the rail end. The same process is repeated, ot course, in produ cingy thc connection at the opi rite end B.

From the foregoing it will be seen that i'ny process and construction diiiers lroni all others in that heretofore reliance has been placed solely upon either a mechanical connectioii or mechanical adhesion, the latter being: brought about ordinarily by a suitable I flux as in the v-.felhknown soldering process.

in the drawings. il. have shown the bond ends li lil :its ilod up lo give a proper huish., Obviously, this is immalifrial. The heat of j the llamo employed is suilicicni :it one time `llamo until the metal thus melted and ap bodies, comprising,

' the bond :may

at least to'lnelt the metalsof the members to l perature of both bodies to be united being be u'nited, a s well as the bond. The heat available in the case of oxyacetylene flame is approximately 3000? C.

it should be understood, of course, that be ofthe shape indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, in which the ends B B2 are integral with the part B; or, in fact, of any other shape.

What l claim is:

1. AThe method of 'connecting .to metal of both-bodies to a point short of the melting point; second, heating a separate piece of 4.metal to a point `where it melts, directing the molten metal to a oint Where said bodiesA Ye said parts are still beingheated and continuing the application ofi'. molten metal until a homogeneous` extension are to be united whi 1s formed where said bodies meet the tem'- frst, heating the metal` raised to the melting point by the application of said molten metal.

2. The method of connecting to metal bodies, comprising, first, heating the metal of both vbodies to a point close to the melting point, second, heating a separate ieee of metal to the point where it melts an directing the molten metal to a oint where the bodies are to be united whi e said parts are stillhot, and continuing the application of molten metal until a homogeneous connection is formed between the bond and the rail the temperature of both bodies to be united -being raised to the melting point by the application of said molten metal.

EUGENE M. BOURNON VILLE. Witnesses:

R. C. MITCHELL, LANGDoN MOORE. 

